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30 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Mercurial
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refers to personality; anyone who easily changes his or her mood easily.
This is a very common GRE word, so make sure you learn it. |
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Jaundice
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to be biased against as a result of envy or prejudice.
In the 17th Century, being yellow, apparently, was associated with having prejudice. |
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Jejune
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dull, insipid and lacking flavor.
childish and immature. Now that I’m done lamenting jejune’s debased status, I’m going to have a jejune fit. |
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Bilious
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According to Hippocrates, he of the bodily humors, if we are filled with too much bile, we are angry. Therefore, to be bilious is to be constantly irritable and ready to bite somebody’s head off.
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Choleric
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highly irascible
If a person had too much black bile he (usually not she) would be said to be choleric, or highly irascible (choleric was more Galen’s nomenclature, as Hippocrates stuck to bilious, a synonym for choleric). |
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Sanguine
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to be cheerful, optimistic.
While sanguine has a positive definition, the word sanguinary—note the sang- root—means a carnage or bloodbath. Yes, I know English can be a confusing language. But, if you learn these high-frequency GRE words, you will have something to be sanguine about! |
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Martinet
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strict disciplinarian.
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Curmudgeon
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a grouchy, surly person, one who is always sulking as they grumble about something or another.
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Misanthrope
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hater of mankind
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Reprobate
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noun and is the recipient of the disapproval
Those old reprobates drinking all day down by the river –they are not going to amount to much. |
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reprove
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to express disapproval of
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Virago
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ill-tempered and sometimes violent woman.
If you’ve ever had an old lady scream at you for no good reason, then you’ve had an encounter with a virago. |
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Cardinal
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of primary importance, fundamental
– the expression, “cardinal sin”, retains the GRE definition of the word, and means primary. It does not refer to naughty churchmen. |
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Syncretic
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any amalgam of different schools of thought.
Jerry the shrink takes a syncretic approach to psychotherapy – he mixes the Gestalt school with some Jung and a healthy (or unhealthy) dose of Freud. |
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amalgam
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A combination of diverse elements; a mixture: an amalgam of strength, reputation, and commitment to ethical principles.
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Ecclesiastical
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of or relating to the church.
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Parochial
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narrow-minded in one’s view.
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Catholic
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universal.
Or not, considering that Catholicism has a universal reach and, more importantly, the Catholic Church conducts mass in Latin. Catholic comes from the Late Latin catholicus, which means, as you can probably guess, universal. |
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Anathema
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(n.), he, she, or it is the source of somebody’s hate.
Galileo was anathema to the church; Rush Limbaugh is anathema to those on the Left. |
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Desecrate
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If a person willfully violates or destroys any sacred place
The felon had desecrated the holy site, and was on the church’s Top 10 Anathema List. |
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Apostasy
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the act of leaving behind, or straying from, your religious or political beliefs or your principles
An apostate of the Republican Party, Sheldon has yet to become affiliated with any part but dubs himself a “literal independent.” |
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Sanctimonious
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making a big show about how you are better or morally superior to others. holier-than-thou.
Even during the quiet sanctity of evening prayer, she held her chin high, a sanctimonious sneer forming on her face. |
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sanctity
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the holiness or sacred state of something important. (noun)
An example of sanctity is the importance of marriage, or the “sanctity of marriage.” |
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Iconoclast
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somebody who attacks cherished beliefs or institutions.
This use of the word is not necessarily negative: According to some scholars, art during the 19th century had stagnated into works aimed to please fusty Art Academies – it took the iconoclasm of Vincent Van Gogh to inject fresh life into the effete world of painting. |
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Malfeasance
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wrongdoing, usually by a public official.
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Lascivious
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like lecherous, prurient, and libidinous, all refer to perversion.
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Embroiled
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To become caught up in a scandal.
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Venality
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to be corrupt.
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Prevaricate
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to dance around the truth or speak evasively
Not that a U.S. president would ever prevaricate by talking about the household pet when confronted with charges of venality. |
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Turpitude
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synonym for depravity, only reserved for those acts deemed to be downright wicked and immoral.
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